Nitrox class - no dives/dives?

[RainPilot]

PADI doesn't have standards online. That's actually one of the reasons I prefer SDI/TDI - standards are online You just have to know where to look. I must be the exception then, because I've looked at the standards before I've signed up for every class, except for OW, when I looked at the standards after I was signed up.

I think it might be fair to say that you are not the "norm" when it comes to students Marie

 

[NYCNaiad]

I originally was going to say that the PADI shop I got mine from in Cozumel in 2010 required 2 dives. But like @Tribal, it was more about the pre-dive briefing then the dives themselves.

However, @RainPilot makes a good point. Maybe the shop just included the 2 dives to make the price tag more palatable...? I was a very new diver alone on Cozumel very unsure of myself so wanted an instructor with me for every dive. I went in there wanting them to give me courses where I would learn & dive so I got my AOW & then layered other certs on top of that like drift diving & nitrox. I still think I was told they were required dives, but who knows?

 

[JackD342]

I think your poll may show when people were certified, not where.

When I did my TDI Nitrox course two dives and a lot of math was required. I don't know when they changed their requirement.

PADI required 2 dives up until the 2nd quarter 2006 training bulletin made the mandatory dives optional. I would guess the others changed somewhere around that time too.

Seriously - did you have that info at your fingertips? Or how long it take you to dig that out?

 

[Lorenzoid]

I’m glad I did the dives, which were required at the time. I took the course at a location where dives were readily available, so it only made sense to dive the tanks I had just analyzed on the dock. I’m guessing that even though PADI now makes the dives optional, many people still take the course at a dive location and so do the dives anyway.

 

[GJC]

When I got mine from NAUI a couple years ago, the dives were optional. The fee was the same whether you did the dives or not, so I did the dives.

With the no dive option, you get a recognition card. If you do the dives, you get a certification card. I have no idea what the difference means (beyond doing the dives). You can still get nitrox fills and rentals with either card.

Enriched Air Nitrox (EANx) Diver | NAUI Worldwide. Dive Safety Through Education

 

[stretchthepenn]

Like others have written, I think that my nitrox class required checkout dives...but I don't actually recall. It's been a while, my logbook is downstairs, and I can't be arsed to fetch it right now. Let's just say "yes."

 

[tursiops]

I think your poll may show when people were certified, not where.

When I did my TDI Nitrox course two dives and a lot of math was required. I don't know when they changed their requirement.

PADI required 2 dives up until the 2nd quarter 2006 training bulletin made the mandatory dives optional. I would guess the others changed somewhere around that time too.

Exactly. The early PADI Nitrox class was substantial....and I took mine in 1999 from Brian Kakuk.....lots of work with tables, equations, Equivalent Air Depth, O2 toxicity, NOAA O2 exposure tables....

The earliest SDI/TDI standards I have are from 2007. SDI Computer Nitrox diver was dead easy, had no dives. TDI Nitrox had two dives recommended but not required, and had more technical content than the SDI class, but less than the 1999 PADI class.

 

[tursiops]

Seriously - did you have that info at your fingertips? Or how long it take you to dig that out?

LOL. It's not hard. All the TBs from 1994 are available as downloads from PADI, which you can concatenate into one big pdf file, and then do searchs for anything you want. Handy.

 

[JackD342]

LOL. It's not hard. All the TBs from 1994 are available as downloads from PADI, which you can concatenate into one big pdf file, and then do searchs for anything you want. Handy.

Here is the $64,000 question: Did you concatenate the PDFs using a free program? I know I don't want to shell out for Adobe Acrobat. (Or was it using a program free to you, but paid for by an employer perhaps?)

 

[tursiops]

Here is the $64,000 question: Did you concatenate the PDFs using a free program? I know I don't want to shell out for Adobe Acrobat. (Or was it using a program free to you, but paid for by an employer perhaps?)

Well, not nearly as much as $64k!
I use Nitro Pro, but there are free programs like PDF Merge - Combine/Merge PDF Files Online for Free. Send me a PM if you can't get it done, and I'll help.